The World According To Crystal

Some of the students in the first class at Charlotte Community School for Girls.

How’s your breakfast? I’m having blueberries, Greek yogurt, walnuts, pecans and flax seed with a little local honey drizzled on top. And coffee.

Breakfast rocks. Most important meal and all that. I want to talk about breakfast some more, but first I want to tell about someone in Charlotte who is doing something special.

I met Cathy Sheafor about a year ago at Story Slam when she laid out her vision for Charlotte Community School for Girls, an experiential learning center for 5th- through 8th-graders. A select group of girls from low-income families would be invited to attend the year-round school, and they would be “challenged to dream, plan, and transform dreams into realities.” (Click here to read a recent piece in The Charlotte Observer!)

The school opens in mid-August in SouthEnd. You must visit and have Cathy tell you about it – I really can’t do it justice – but I so believe in the school that I joined the Board of Advisors.

During our last meeting, the board learned that because fund-raising wasn’t going as well as expected some things had to be cut back. The school wouldn’t be able to provide the girls with a good breakfast when they arrive at 7:30 a.m.

“Those babies have to have breakfast,” I whispered to a fellow board member. I had just finished watching Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution.”

I put out feelers to some very special people including Chef Geoffrey Blount, who heads up the Baking and Pastry Arts program for Central Piedmont Community College Culinary School.

Chef Blount called back and has rounded up a dream team of chefs, instructors, culinary students, farmers, vendors and more who will work with the school on a long-term plan for breakfast and lunch.

In the short term, though, the girls still need a good breakfast.

I asked Cathy to create The Breakfast Fund to get them through the first year. It’s $40 a day or $800 a month to get students and the staff started with a healthy meal. I personally am covering September.

Now, I want to challenge you to pay for a month. Or a week. Or a day. Think of it as investing in the community’s future. Can’t afford it by yourself? Share the cost with a group of girlfriends, your book club, your church group, your sorority sisters, your running buddies.

And if you can’t give money right now, please visit the school or click here for other volunteer and donation opportunities.

My pals on Twitter – my tweeps, seriously, that’s one of the names for twitter pals – have salivated over my posts about pumpkin pancakes.

I first made them when my mom was recovering

Not a recommended way to get pumpkin for pancakes

from her knee surgery. Those flatjacks, well, they fell flat. Mom wasn’t a fan. She and I blame it on her groggy, post-surgery fugue state. She’s willing to try them again.

Good thing. I’ve tricked them out with a “secret ingredient,” raisins, nuts, cinnamon, etc.

These are hearty pancakes. If you’re in a crepe mood, these are not for you. A silver dollar size is probably the best way to go. Lumberjack pancakes (ie, Paul Bunyan-style) are only recommended for those with hollow legs.

Here’s the “recipe”… more like a guideline:

Pancake mix (I prefer Trader Joe’s Multigrain Baking & Pancake Mix)

1/4 cup pumpkin (fresh or organic recommended)

Raisins (gold & dark) to taste

1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

1 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)

1 tbl honey (I prefer local honey or honey from Sapelo Island)

1 tsp pure vanilla (go real, not imitation)

1/4 cup chopped nuts (or to taste). I’ve used walnuts and pecans at different times. Someone suggested almonds. Trying that next.

*secret ingredient (not so secret now): 1 tsp ginger (fresh) or ground cardamom*

Follow the pancake mix recipe. (I like the mixes where eggs, milk and oil are required. They’re more like true pancakes than the “just add water” kind).

Whisk in the other ingredients.

Do a test pancake to see if you need to adjust the recipe.

Serve with a protein.

Let me know what you think and how you tweaked the recipe.

Just stopped by Amelie’s, a French bakery in NoDa, to grab some fresh squeezed OJ (*yum*), and Lynn the owner told me that they’re going to be open 24/7 starting Jan. 9.
Lynn says the move was inspired by a comment from a niece who talking about a great place in NYC that was open around the clock.

Plus, Lynn says, you’ll never have to wonder if Amelie’s is open.

This is one of my fave places in Charlotte. You should try it if you haven’t. Click here for more info. Free wifi, great coffee and soup… and the pastries… tres magnifique!

PS: I resisted the caramel chocolates but not the lemon cream puff.

A pal is looking for suggestions for a restaurant to take her hubby to for his birthday.

Here’s my reply, based on the food, quality of service and atmosphere (and again, these are in my humble opinion):

“Does he like Indian food? Copper on East Blvd in Dilworth is wonderfully romantic.

For steaks, there’s a great old school steak house – a local writer calls it Sinatra old-school – called the Beef & Bottle (great food, slightly kitschy in a good way atmosphere and easier on budget than big name places).  It’s on South Boulevard near Tyvola.

I also love Las Ramblas on Park Road in Dilworth…tapas, great wines.

Other locally owned romantic spots: Noble’s (SouthPark), Bonterra (Dilworth) and Ratcliffe on the Green (Uptown; Chef Mark Hibbs is big on using local foods).”

I know there are more. What would you recommend?

On a budget? Really, who isn’t these days? Then you won’t want to miss this: Charlotte Restaurant Week returns Jan. 24-30.

Here’s the deal: Several cool local restaurants such as Customshop (Elizabeth; another romantic spot, btw), Frankie’s (Dilworth) and GW Fins (Uptown) are offering 3-course dinners for $30 (excluding tax/gratuity).

The first one was a big hit last summer.

Get the full list of participating restaurants and more details here.